Susan Paxton > Recent Status Updates

So far highly disappointing.

My God, this is a terrifying book. Even more terrifying with the current regime and its insane worship of fossil fuels.

When a book of this magnitude begins with a howler, claiming Malachi is the "last book of the Christian New Testament," you start looking for excuses to bail out.

"...paging through the parchment and ink is like a shot of espresso to the imagination."

The best book printed on Orwell in some time. Relentlessly interesting.

Literally cartoonishly bad so far. Is Dutton now a self-publishing imprint? Are there no editors to keep the author from suggesting truck drivers "break" to slow down?

Does WW Norton no longer employ editors? So far we have the specious claim that the Lucy australopithecene is part of the collection of the AMNH (no) and this insane sentence: "...exterminated millions of bison in the brief span of Barnum's life, leaving the boy to relent....". The word should, of course, be regret and I'm beginning to regret wasting my time.

There's a lot here, but dimwitted mistakes like "von" Paulus suggest Princeton should take another look.

Great reading so far.

Written in a ridiculously happy-clappy fashion. Trying to decide if I want to invest any more time in a book that contains gems like "Scientists know that it [Yellowstone] isn't about to bring humanity to its knees" and Yellowstone "isn't a killer in waiting" and "Supervolcanoes like it won't bring an end to civilization." Poor stuff indeed.

Dense but rewarding.

It boggles that a biography written at the end of the 70s can be this fresh and perceptive.

Important history, wretchedly poorly organized and executed so far.